This invention relates to the processing of grains and, more particularly, to improved processes and apparatus for dehusking, drying, cracking and milling grains, particularly grain sorghums.
Grain sorghums offer a tremendous potential as a world food supply. Sorghums grow over a wide range of climatic conditions. They provide a higher yield per acre than smaller cereal grains, comparable to or greater than corn. Additionally, grain sorghums have a higher protein content than corn, although less than that of hard winter wheat. However, in spite of the foregoing advantages, grain sorghums such as milo are used for human consumption primarily only in underdeveloped and developing countries. In the United States and other highly developed countries such sorghums are used mainly for animal feed. This is due to the fact that flour milled by conventional processes from grain sorghums has a bitter taste from the tannic acid content of the sorghum husks. Also, the color of the conventionally processed sorghum flour makes it undesirable for baked goods. Additionally, it has been found that if a conventional roller mill is used in processing grain sorghums, the flour has a gritty aftertaste.
Suitable methods and apparatus have been needed for processing grain sorghums to overcome the foregoing disadvantages because flour or meal made from grain sorghums has the potential for being a superior food product. Such meal has a low gluten content making it desirable for producing soft baked goods. When grain sorghum flour is blended with wheat flour, the mixture has baking qualities equivalent to soft wheat flour but at a savings in cost on the order of at least 10%. By controlling the ratio of sorghum meal to wheat flour, the quality of the mixture can be maintained constant, even though the quality of the individual flour may vary as a result of changing climatic conditions. Additionally, flour produced from grain sorghum is bland and accepts flavors very well, thereby reducing the amount of flavoring and sweeteners required by many recipes. Still further, grit by-products from the processing of grain sorghums can be utilized to replace corn grit in extruded food products at savings in the order of 10%. This grit in large particles can also be substituted for rice with a higher nutritional value at less than half the cost and can be precooked and reshaped to be equivalent to instant rice products. The grit products tend to hold up better than similarly prepared rice, and can be prepared in the same manner as regular rice.
Thus, with proper processing methods and apparatus, grain sorghums have the potential of providing economical food products which additionally gives the capability to develop new product and flavors.